Why just 2
We talked in class on Monday about the debate over if sex, in similar ways as gender, has been socially constructed, however I had difficulty understanding this until reading the fourth chapter of Sexing the Body. I am slightly ashamed to say that, prior to this class, my knowledge surrounding the alternate sexes was near nonexistent. I have always associated sex with two options, male and female, no more and no less, although I do not think that I am alone in this situation, as it is a topic we distinguish as very fragile within our society. Perhaps I have this lack of knowledge out of social conditioning, or maybe it roots from unfamiliarity in terms of connections to my own experiences, but nonetheless I feel a sense of guilt in having been so unaware.
The two readings, from Fausto-Sterling and Levy, introduced similar questions and topics of discussion that I found to be quite thought-provoking. The authors both alluded to the box metaphor within their pieces; the ideology that people must fit inside one of the categories that our society has created and deemed as acceptable. I think that this is where the social construction of sex comes into play. We associate sex with a two-sex system, or an either/or circumstance, despite the fact that it is not necessarily such. People are forced to be one or the other, male or female, and we simply do not accept anyone who does not fit the category. Our societal expectations and need for categorization hold anyone from being who they are, or who they want to be. But why?
We cannot deny science. We cannot pretend we don't know that man and woman are not the only two options, so why are they all that we allow to be okay? Intersex genders do exist and they are not any less of people than those who are born one specific sex. The fact that people are discriminated against, judged, dehumanized, and "fixed," is disgusting to me. If we established that it was wrong to do these things to someone based solely off of the color of their skin, then why are we still doing it to people for differences in their body parts? It is just as wrong.
I think that Faust-Sterling concluded this chapter perfectly when she said, "The road will be bumpy, but the possibility of a more diverse and equitable future is ours if we choose to make it happen" (114). Not everyone is going to fit into the boxes, and not everyone is going to fit in the two-sex system, but we need to learn to accept that just as we have the things that are already acceptable.
The two readings, from Fausto-Sterling and Levy, introduced similar questions and topics of discussion that I found to be quite thought-provoking. The authors both alluded to the box metaphor within their pieces; the ideology that people must fit inside one of the categories that our society has created and deemed as acceptable. I think that this is where the social construction of sex comes into play. We associate sex with a two-sex system, or an either/or circumstance, despite the fact that it is not necessarily such. People are forced to be one or the other, male or female, and we simply do not accept anyone who does not fit the category. Our societal expectations and need for categorization hold anyone from being who they are, or who they want to be. But why?
We cannot deny science. We cannot pretend we don't know that man and woman are not the only two options, so why are they all that we allow to be okay? Intersex genders do exist and they are not any less of people than those who are born one specific sex. The fact that people are discriminated against, judged, dehumanized, and "fixed," is disgusting to me. If we established that it was wrong to do these things to someone based solely off of the color of their skin, then why are we still doing it to people for differences in their body parts? It is just as wrong.
I think that Faust-Sterling concluded this chapter perfectly when she said, "The road will be bumpy, but the possibility of a more diverse and equitable future is ours if we choose to make it happen" (114). Not everyone is going to fit into the boxes, and not everyone is going to fit in the two-sex system, but we need to learn to accept that just as we have the things that are already acceptable.
Comments
Post a Comment